The modern Christian often approaches his Christianity as a
set of premises to accept or reject. 
Christianity does certainly contain many premises.  But Christianity is also fundamentally about
a story, and when all we know about that story is what Jesus did, we’re coming
in about three-quarters of the way through. 
The whole story begins with creation, goes through the lives of Noah,
the patriarchs, Moses, Israel
and David.  The story does not end until
eternity, when the promised fellowship is finally fully restored.  Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is
certainly the pinnacle and most crucial part of the story.  But we need the Old Testament to truly see
the whole scope of God’s redemptive plan, the story that unfolds through all of
human history.  We need the Old Testament
to see ourselves properly within the sweep of that whole tale.  The story of redemptive history is so big and
grand that we all come into it somewhere in the middle; no new believer has the
perspective to start at the beginning and see the whole thing all at once.  So we have to start somewhere, and the
ministry of Jesus is a very good place to start, the place where most
Christians have always started.  But to
deepen and broaden our understanding of the story of salvation, we need the Old
Testament.  The book of Ezekiel captures
a big piece of the story, a summary of God’s dealings with Israel
and how that chapter of the story ends, and a new one begins.

-Excerpt from The Lord is There: Studies in the book of Ezekiel.